The present invention relates to a video cassette recorder (called VCR) integrally provided with a camera and more particularly an improvement for extending the serviceable time when it is battery-powered and for enhancing the operativity.
A VCR integrally provided with a camera (called a camcorder) includes as one of the image pickup techniques a technique of achieving a clean splice between the adjacent image sequences on the video tape obtained by the repetition of recording and pausing. The conventional camcorder has a standby mode at which the recording operation is paused. At this standby mode, a camera section stays in an image pickup state, while a VCR section stays in a recording pause state (REC pause) that does not operate to record the image. Hence, the camcorder even at the standby mode consumes the substantially same electric power as that at the recording mode. This results in disadvantageously shortening the serviceable time when the recording is actually allowed, because the camcorder is often battery-powered. In order to avoid the power consumption of the camcorder at the standby mode, after the recording is finished, the camcorder may be constantly powered off. However, when the recording is restarted, it is necessary to take the two steps of operating a power switch and then a recording button. To reducing this burdensome two-step operation, for example, the apparatus as disclosed in JP-A-57-196673 is arranged to interrupt power supply to the camera section and the VCR section when the camcorder is at the standby mode and supply power when the recording is restarted.
The current camcorder mainly provides an LCD or an electronic viewfinder arranged to use a small CRT or a LCD for checking an image sequence picked and recorded by the camcorder itself. The power control of the foregoing prior art keeps the VCR section as well as the camera section inoperative when the power is interrupted, so that this power control disadvantageously disallows a user to check the picked images through the electronic viewfinder. In actual, it is necessary to take some burdensome steps of turning on the camcorder and define an angle of field after a picture appears on the electronic viewfinder. It means that if the camcorder is operated for recording immediately after it is powered, the camcorder may record an image sequence the user does not intend. Further, a camcorder provided with a zoom lens having a variable focal length provides a shooter with a narrower field of the electronic viewfinder if the lens is zoomed in to the Tele-terminal (where a magnified picture appears on the viewfinder). Hence, it takes a longer time for the shooter to find an object to be imaged within the field of view. This may lead to recording an undesired image.